Russia expects Washington to provide an explanation after a report claimed that Pentagon cyber-offensive specialists have hacked into Russia’s power grids, telecommunications networks, and the Kremlin's command systems for a possible sabotage.

“If no official reaction from the American administration follows, it would mean state cyberterrorism exists in the US. If the threats of the attack, which were published by the US media, are carried out, Moscow would be justified in charging Washington,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, according to the ministry's website.

Well, VP Biden, in one of his more lucid moments, threatened exactly this. Which would mean it has the "blessing" of the POTUS.

Do these idiots in the barbarous US regime really want to start a war that badly?

Fortunately we have the Henry Jackson Society to defend you from it. The Henry Jackson Society, supported by Liam Fox, Jim Murphy and pretty well every other right wing enthusiast you can name, is of course a great believer in free markets. And its sense of the market has detected that its old product of a constant stream of Islamophobia is becoming dated, and currently buyers want Russophobia. Whatever your phobia, the Henry Jackson Society will have some to sell you, so here we have their new Manual of Russophobia....

Given that the Henry Jackson Society is, and always has been, financed by CIA money laundered through American New World Order supporting private foundations, this is rather amusing. This pathetically thin hate manual is now on the desk of every Conservative and New Labour Progress Group MP.

The same day that the Henry Jackson Society paper was released, the head of MI5 gave an interview to the Guardian about the Russian threat. The Russians are not just coming, they are here! You can’t see them because they are inside your laptop, where the Russian government apparently want to steal all your secrets. Our security services don’t like the competition. That is their job...

Who benefits from this ratcheting up of anti-Russian rhetoric to hotter than cold war levels? Why the armaments and security industries, of course. Expect more donations to politicians and their foundations, and more pesky corruption investigations to be dropped by prosecuting authorities.

"The truth is that Russia is not our enemy. There is no chance that Russia will attack the UK or US. It has never happened and it never will. Nor is it remotely likely that Russia will attack any EU member state. The only thing that can make such a contingency even a 0.1% possibility, is the continuing gross anti-Russian rhetoric and propaganda and continued forward stationing of NATO assets. History from WWI to the Gulf shows that military build-up can in itself cause conflict.

Clearly the suggestion of some sort of coming set-up and manufacture of consent for further anti-Russia agit prop monkey-tricks and provocations planned by NATO for our 'counter-insurgency expert' minister as required from such an imperial vassal and henchman, maybe even with help as required by UkroNazi sympathiser Chrystia F who has no shortage of fascist, Russophobic friends on the domestic and international scene. Including the Atlantic Council and notorious Clintonista mafiosi like Larry Summers, her 'guru'. And doubtless cheered on by Canadian 'progressives' as they always do..

The Academy’s problem with the film was that there are too many Russians and an insufficient number of Armenians among the crew, a spokesperson for Mars Media, the Moscow-based production company of Earthquake, told THR.

I looked up the rules for Oscar submission and the relevant rule appears to be: "The submitting country must certify that creative control of the motion picture was largely in the hands of citizens or residents of that country." Thus the issue. But maybe with additional info from the film maker the Academy will revisit the decision.

Presumbaly if the Academy has determined it's a Russian film rather than an Armenian film, Russia could submit the film as its own entry. There's no rule that I am aware of that bars Russia from entering a Russian film into the contest.

[Added: looks like Russia has in fact made a submission this year and every year since it was re-created out of the former USSR, which also submitted entries. [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_submissions_for_the_Academ... has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1992[/url]. This year's submission, Paradise, has already won awards in Venice. Congrats to the Russian film makers on that.]

Yes, if there isn't enough control by the Armenian producer or enough key creative positions filled by Armenians, it doesn't qualify as an Armenian film - it would be classed as a Russian film shot as a service production in Armenia. Just as high profile films that shoot in Canada with foreign key creatives are not entered into festivals as Canadian films.

The issue isn't that they're Russians, it's that they're not Armenians. It would be the same problem if they were, for example, French.

A draft statement that mentioned Ban's support for the LGBT community was changed to note instead that "the most vulnerable or marginalized have been increasingly heard and assisted" under his leadership.

In an unusual move, the 54-national African Group opposed the creation of the role, to investigate human rights violations against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people.

But a group of Latin American countries, supported by many western states, sought to block the African draft in its original form during Monday's session. Their amendment gutted the original resolution.

In Monday's vote by most of the committee's 193-members, the amendment received 84 votes in favor, 77 against and 17 abstentions....

Russia and Egypt, speaking on behalf of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said they would not recognize the mandate of the gay rights investigator and would not cooperate with Muntarbhorn.

Good thing the vote got in before Trump, who might have allied with Russia against LGBT+ rights. Thanks goodness for the Latin American group.

Quote:

In 2014, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the UN would recognize all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive UN benefits. Russia unsuccessfully tried to overturn it last year, with Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, India, Egypt, Pakistan and Syria among 43 states that supported Moscow.

I think the ultra right-wing government of Russia, by making common cause with Saudi Arabia, brings a lot of this on itself. Thank goodness that Venezuela and Bolivia and many others are genuinely committed to human dignity, but of course it would be too much to expect the far-right Putin regime to stand with them and with LGBT+ people.

But I still think Russia is awesome, despite its imperialist and homophobic government.

Cur ikosmos implying, but not actually stating, that anyone who likes Russia but not does not swear loyalty oaths to its government is "russophobic."

I think Canada is, by far, the most foaming, rabid, death-loving Russophobic country in the world. But it would be a waste of time to "convince" those already convinced ....

.... particularly when the available evidence does not actually support that view. Awkward.

Pew Research does an annual survey of assorted global attitutes and trends, and from their 2015 survey of attitudes towards Russia, Canadians are pretty much in the middle of the pack (of 39 countries) in terms of anti-Russian sentiment. Perhaps not surprisingly, those who know Russia best (ie Europeans) are the most "russophobic". Allthough the survey does note that strong anti-Russian sentiment amongst European progressives is mitigated by increasing pro-Russian sentiment within right wing elements of the population. So Putin does have his friends...

Putin won his war to install Trump. And Trump's pro-Russian, and-climate agenda. But he lost millions of Democrats and progressives in the U.S. who have been, or may have been, predisposed to take a benign view of Russia, for at least a generation. Or at least until he is overthrown.

A Mexican friend and colleague studied Russian in Moscow; she loved the Russian people and didn't even mind the cold - well, she moved here later in life. I think it remains extremely important not to confuse entire peoples from the government they may be saddled with for any number of reasons. And I think that in general people in Canada tend to take a positive view of Russians ... and of Ukranians.

The phobias here are of people of various colours and those from certain faith communities (the latter often whether or not the people are actually religious). And of course the searing racism against Indigenous people. I don't think I've ever met a single person who hated Russians.

It's remarkable that this phenomena, rather than declining, seems to be increasing in intensity, breadth, and so on. The DNC's whining about their electoral failure is perhaps the noisiest, most brazen, but it's now getting some MSM commentators mocking the cultivation of ignorance and honouring of bigotry - Russian English-language media sees it as a kind of racism in some reports - but that doesn't seem to be slowing down anything.

Perhaps if they could erase the entire 20th century of history of socialism in Russia, all of it, they might "forgive" Russia and actually come to the conclusion that, yes, Russians actually deserve to exist, and not be ethnically cleansed (as in Ukraine) .

But I doubt it. It's simply too egregious an insult to capital, the danger of a "good example" (Chomsky) - even the terrible Stalinist one - that can't be entirely erased, and we see now, in the waning days of the "enlightened" first African American President, a spiteful, war-loving, venomous Russophobia from the Nobel Peace Prize winning POTUS that is even over the top for the current climate:

- lovingly providing arms to the terrorists in Syria, changing US law to put MANPADS and such weapons that could be used to shoot down civilian aircraft by the "moderate" head-choppers of ISIS and Al Quada;

- continuation of the comparisons of Russia, generally, with viruses (Ebola) and terrorists (ISIS, etc.) that Barak Obama blathered from the rostrum of the UN GA not so long ago;

- efforts to sabotage the new POTUS from taking a new direction in foreign policy, away from Obama/Clinton war preparations;

I seem to recall him, at one point, lamenting that probably every babbler just wished all Hindus would die. At some point babble seemed to tire of his persistent complaining that everyone hates him and his, and I think his account was terminated.

"It's back and once again we're saying not only do the Russians have forces to invade Western Europe, but they thought of a new wrinkle - through their fiendish cyber-cunning, they changed the course of politics and elected Donald Trump...

Vladimir Putin profits by pretending there is a "New Red Scare" against his country, when in fact he is a very ordinary run of the mill conservative nationalist, and there is very little antipathy towards the Russian people (though much, of course, towards Mr Putin).

Some of the pro-Kremlin folks online may also profit, though I imagine most are unpaid.

"It's back and once again we're saying not only do the Russians have forces to invade Western Europe, but they thought of a new wrinkle - through their fiendish cyber-cunning, they changed the course of politics and elected Donald Trump...